As the Founder of FTW, I've tried to promote the FTW Blogger Group and the hobby whenever possible. On more than one occasion, I've emailed other folks I though might be interested in a mutual promotion type thing. Nothing serious, nothing financially binding, no 400 page contract with addendums and clauses. Shared promotion.And you know what comes out of it more often than not, they ask (if in round about terms) "What's in it for me?"
Having trouble believing this to be true my dear reader? Try it for yourself, contact one of the "big boys" and see just how far you get.
It appears that FTW doesn't quite offer what some of the bigger boys are looking for. For those interested in knowing what that is, it's hundreds of thousands of visitors a day with just as many if not more page views. There are some other conditions I've been given before but those are the big ones. Where does your blog fit in? How many do you have a day?
FTW doesn't have that many.
I'm probably living under a rock though. I mean really, what blog doesn't have hundreds of thousands of visitors a day? They probably aren't worth promoting much less reading if they don't.
And that's the unfortunate part really. There is the potential to connect so many of us (bloggers and hobbyists) together if the first thing out of most people's mouth wasn't "What's in it for me?"
Now there have been some that have said "Absolutely!" I've got them listed under Supporters in the right hand column of FTW. We promote each other to the best of our abilities, ten page views or ten thousand a day. That's not the point of blogging, we're not out here to see who has the most page views or the most unique visitors... we're here to help each other and share what we've learned.
Please don't mistake what I am saying, advertising is not bad. I have advertising on FTW. Those are different kinds of agreements. What I'm talking about is supporting each other. I try to support all Bloggers with the hobby and will continue to do so as long as I can... whether it benefits me or not. Like I said, that's not the point.
In fact, if it weren't for some of the smallest blogs out there, I wouldn't be able to do what I do now. I wouldn't know all the little tricks I know or have a huge resource of Tutorials to go to when I need help with something. I wouldn't have the inspiration I get from the FTW Blogger list on a daily basis.
So take a minute and look at the small guys out there, there's a wealth of information and help out there, I know for a fact there is. I ask you readers, make sure the first thing out of your mouth is NOT "What's in it for me?" when someone comes to you with an idea.
And for those who are in this for themselves, I wish you the best in the blogging world, the rest of us will continue to work together to make the 40k online community something worth being a part of. You will always take second seat to those who really do work to improve the online 40k community.
UPDATE: This post is fairly old and FTW has since experienced a number of changes. Sometimes it's nice to look back at where you came from and where you're going.
